Bright Lights and City Nights
by Emerald Lotus
Summary: Donnie's having a bad day from the get-go. Things just get progressively worse for him throughout the morning, until his brothers and April find a way to cheer him up.


**A story I wrote for the Valentine's Day exchange on Tumblr based 2012 series. I hope you enjoy it!  
**

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Growing up underground was something that Donatello had never really questioned. Well, there really was no other way. The surface world would certainly have not accepted them; even April was terrified of them at first. It wasn't until they truly looked at Donatello or any his brothers and saw them as people instead of _monsters,_ did they realize there was more to them than just being a mutant turtle.

Still there were moments when Donnie wished he could go up on the streets and walk around in the sunshine. Where he could talk to people about the things he enjoyed, engage in schoolwork in an actual school, and be able to contribute to society. In that respect he was so much like Mikey, the younger brother who was constantly yearning to make new friends.

Even though he had his brothers for company, and they were quite dear to him, some days Donnie wished he could just get away. It's not like he wasn't happy, he was extremely content, but it was okay to dream about what things would be like if he were considered normal.

Today just happened to be one of those days where Donnie was feeling especially pressed for space. It was like that waking up on the wrong side of the bed syndrome, or perhaps because he woke up at his desk. It didn't really matter, everything that could go wrong, did.

First thing in the morning he was woken up by the sound of his alarm. That was to be expected, except instead of being in his bed, he was face down at his desk with the keyboard of his laptop pressed into his face. Donnie groaned, craning his neck to get the kinks out, and managed to move his stiff body over to the blaring sound of the alarm clock. Swivel chairs were not the best place to sleep during the night.

Donnie plopped down on his bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He looked at his hands, seeing the calluses from so many years of training with the rough bo staff. He was quite talented at using the weapon. His hands and body were proof of that, but there were moments where he wished he could be known for something more than a skilled martial artist. Donnie certainly admired the art Sensei had taught them over the years, but lately Donnie was starting to wish he could focus more on the scientific side of things instead of the ninja side.

_Oh well,_ Donnie thought. That was something to think of another time.

Donnie fell backwards onto the mattress; his feet still planted on the ground, and looked up at the ceiling. Practice would start soon and he didn't want to be late, but he wasn't particularly motivated to move either.

There was a knock at the door. Donnie turned his head to the side to look at who it was. Leo cracked the door and popped his head into the room.

"Morning Donnie," Leo greeted him happily. "Uh, you okay?"

"Yeah, I just fell asleep at my desk again."

"Oh. Working on anything interesting?"

Donnie smiled. Leo always knew his reasons for staying up so late, even if he didn't always approve. "I had some ideas for the subway car we have. I wanted to get the blueprints drawn up before I went to bed. It's going to be really cool…you know once it's all done, and I can properly calibrate an engine to run it."

"Sounds great Donnie," Leo said, quickly turning his head out to the hall as a noise distracted him. "I'm gonna go to the dojo. I think Mikey is making something for breakfast now if you're hungry."

Donnie pushed himself up from the bed and headed for the door. As he moved out to the hallway, he could hear the familiar sounds of cookware being used. Upon entering the room, he watched as Mikey attempted to make breakfast. Donnie didn't mind Mikey experimenting with food, but he wasn't particularly fond when it ended up affecting him.

"What are you making?" Donnie asked warily.

"Some old fashioned pancakes. I read about them in a cookbook I found," Mikey answered excitedly, showing him the batter in the bowl.

"Uh, Mikey. Is it supposed to bubble like that?" Donnie pointed to the bowl as bubbles came to the surface, and popped, becoming more rapid as he watched.

In the next minute everything was coated with pancake mix. Mikey did something weird with the batter, and needless to say instead of ending up in the skillet, the batter ended up covering everything else except its intended target.

"Mikey," Donnie wiped batter off of his face, trying to keep the irritation from seeping into his voice.

Mikey laughed. "That was wicked!"

"What did you do?" Donnie demanded.

"Uh, I don't really know. Must have mixed up an ingredient or something."

"With what? Dynamite?"

"I don't think so…" Mikey looked back at the counter where various ingredients were.

Donnie sighed. "Never mind. It was rhetorical. Let's just clean up before Sensei calls us to morning practice."

"Can do," Mikey saluted, and laughed when some of the batter whipped off of his hand and smacked Donnie in the face.

Donnie just shook his head. He walked over to the cabinets and took out a roll of paper towels from underneath the sink to get the slimy, almost breakfast off of the kitchen's surface.

By the time the kitchen was clean Donnie's control over his temper was almost to the point of snapping. Mikey wasn't taking anything seriously, and wanted to attempt to skate in the batter instead of cleaning it up. It took everything in Donnie not to put Mikey in a chokehold just so he could get a moment without constant jokes.

"I've been hanging around Raph too much," Donnie muttered to himself at the thought.

Fortunately, Master Splinter summoned them to the dojo, and there was no time for jokes during training. Well, jokes and taunts were two different things, and taunts always seemed to slip out when they were sparring. Donnie was never fond of that part of their training. He enjoyed the katas more than anything else, or learning meditation which trained the mind. Sparring, however, was not his strong suit. To make matters worse, he got paired up with Raph again.

_Great, now I get to add some bruises to this wonderful morning,_ Donnie thought. He frowned as Raph cracked his knuckles, preparing for their fight.

"This is gonna be entertaining," Raph smirked.

"For you, maybe."

Raph rolled his eyes. "Ah, suck it up Donnie."

"Easy for you to say," Donnie said, placing his bo staff in front of him at the ready.

Raph spun his sai in a manner that was supposed to be threatening, and to anyone else it might have been. They heard Master Splinter's command to start, and fell into their fighting stances.

Raph charged forward, like he always did. Donnie dodged and struck out at Raph's left side. He hit Raph in the back of his elbow, which knocked one of his sais out of his hand. Donnie had actually landed a hit on Raph! For a split second it didn't quite register what he had just done, but only for a second.

Donnie's quick mind moved faster than Raph could react physically. He moved to the side to avoid Raph's right hook punch, and then Donnie used his staff to block a roundhouse kick.

Before Raph could bring his leg back down into a solid stance, Donnie knocked Raph's leg out from under him. He cried out in surprise as he landed harshly on his back. Donnie moved his staff just above Raph's throat so that he couldn't get back up again, and smiled triumphantly.

"Well done, Donatello," said Master Splinter from the side of the room. "You had very good form with your attacks."

"Thanks Sensei!"

"Whoa Donnie! That was awesome!" Mikey cheered.

Donnie placed his staff back in the belted slot on his back, and reached a hand out towards Raph to help him back up. Raph frowned angrily at him, but still took his hand. As Raph got back to his feet, he suddenly moved and twisted Donnie's wrist, simultaneously flipping Donnie. He grunted in pain as he landed roughly on the ground, his head making a loud thud against the floor.

"Raphael!" Master Splinter shouted angrily. "That was uncalled for."

Raph looked down at his brother on the ground. He hadn't moved from his spot on the floor. His eyes were closed, and he appeared to be unconscious.

"It was just a little flip. Come on, man. Get up already," Raph said, looking down at Donnie. Mikey had Leo had moved closer to the two during the confrontation incase Raph did something stupid.

"Donnie, can you hear me?" Mikey kneeled down next to Donnie. He nudged his shoulder. "Bro?"

"Raph!" Leo hissed. "You knocked him out."

"No I…"Raph tried to defend himself, but obviously there was no backing out of what he had done. He didn't mean to hurt Donnie, but it just turned into one of those freak incidents. Donnie's been flipped a hundred times without being seriously hurt.

Master Splinter came over. "Raphael, you let your temper get the best of you once again. You must learn to take a loss with humility. Go do thirty flips in the corner now!"

Raph left with a small "Hai Sensei" and walked off to the corner.

Master Splinter bent down next to Donnie and checked his pulse. He appeared to be stable, other than being unconscious. Donnie groaned at the touch, and opened his eyes slowly. "I wasn't unconscious," He supported himself on his elbows and looked up at his family. "I just got a little stunned. That hurt…a lot."

"Raph seems to have that affect on people," Leo said dryly, as Master Splinter helped Donnie to his feet. He kept a steady hand around on his shoulder just be sure. "And not in a good way."

Donnie rubbed his eyes, as dizziness started to settle over him.

"Donatello, are you all right?" Master Splinter asked concerned.

"Yeah, I think so. I don't think it's a concussion, just a really bad headache," Donnie replied. This just added to the list of things that could go wrong today.

"Good, but perhaps you should go rest in your room for the rest of morning training."

"All right. Thanks Sensei," Donnie bowed slightly, and turned to leave. Returning to bed sounded like the best thing he had heard all day. He was tired from sleeping at his desk all night anyway.

He passed Raphael on the way, who stopped doing flips to speak to Donnie.

"Hey," he said to catch Donnie's attention. "I'm sorry I hurt you. I didn't mean to be that…uh violent."

"I know that," Donnie said, watching as Raph struggled to say what he was thinking.

Raph fidgeted with his hands, and let out a huff. "You did good in the fight. I didn't see that sweep coming."

"Thanks," Donnie smiled softly. Raph nodded and turned back to the wall to finish his flips.

Donnie exited the dojo and headed for his room. He'd only been up for two hours, but it already felt like an entire day. The effects of sleeping in a desk chair all night tend to do that though. The idea of a nap was quite welcome. After Donnie took some Tylenol to help get rid of the headache that was swiftly coming on, he dropped down on his mattress. The minute his head hit the pillow, he was out.

Donnie woke next to the sound of shouting outside of his bedroom door, although it wasn't aimed at him. He was next to the kitchen and Raph was yelling at Leo for taking the last slice of pizza from the fridge.

"I must have missed lunch," He looked at his clock noticing that it was close to one.

Donnie stretched in bed and got up. He didn't really want to deal with his brothers right now. He just needed some time to himself after the morning he had. So Donnie snuck out of his room to the kitchen, grabbed an apple and some crackers to eat, and then quickly made his way to his lab.

Working with technology always calmed him down, not that he was angry or upset. It was just a lingering feeling of stress that he couldn't shake. Donnie just wanted some time to focus on one idea and not have to worry about anything else.

The old subway car they had procured was taking up most of the space in his workshop. He wanted to outfit it to become a patrol car, but it was going to take a lot of work. Right now he was just focusing on fortifying it. Basically that meant getting the doors to open easily, and barring the windows for protection.

Donnie finished the rest of his apple, tossed it into a nearby wastebasket, and sat down at the stool by his work bench. A large pile of scrap metal was consuming most of the desk. He was welding the pieces together to go over the windows of the subway.

Donnie selected one of the pieces out of the pile to start working with, filing out the rougher edges so the pieces would fit together.

A loud clattering sound from inside the subway car startled him. His grip on the metal slipped, and in turn it sliced through his right palm.

Donnie hissed in pain. "Augh!"

Mikey stuck his head out of the subway car then, and immediately noticed Donnie's bleeding hand. "Oh man! Sorry, sorry. I didn't know you were in here and I dropped some of my stuff. Oh gosh, you're bleeding…okay, first aid kit!"

Before Donnie could even ask Mikey what he was doing, he ran off to get the first-aid kit from the corner of the room. Mikey hastily returned and set the kit down on the workbench. He grabbed one of the clean cloths they kept inside; placing the cloth on Donnie's cut to staunch the blood flow.

"Donnie, I'm sorry bro," Mikey said as he rifled through the kit to get more supplies.

"It's not your fault, Mikey," Donnie flinched as Mikey pushed down on the cut. "I just can't seem to do anything right today."

"What are you talking about? You've done everything normally, Raph and I were the ones that have screwed your day up so far," Mikey said quietly. "Sorry about breakfast."

Donnie smiled and Mikey's apology. "It's okay. I feel like I could be in a bad TV sitcom, and everyone is laughing at my misfortune."

"Dude, we would make an awesome TV show and you know it!" Mikey added. "And it would not be a cheesy sitcom. It would something with humor, lots of action, and pizza!"

"You think?"

"Definitely," Mikey said, and then turned his attention back to Donnie's hand. The bleeding slowed and he peeled the blood-soaked cloth away to examine the cut. "You think it's going to need stitches?" Mikey made a face of protest to the idea. He could handle blood and injuries, but when it came to needles he got a little squirmy.

Donnie looked at the cut carefully. "I don't think so. It doesn't look that deep."

Mikey sighed in relief. "Good. Then I'll wrap it up for you, and you'll be good as new!" Mikey took a cotton pad and sterilized the cut. Then another to place over the cut, and finally wrapping gauze around Donnie's hand to keep everything in place.

"There," Mikey patted Donnie's hand. "All done. Does it feel okay?"

"Yeah, thanks," Donnie looked down at his wrapped up hand. "Mikey what were you doing in here anyway?"

Mikey looked at him, and blushed slightly. "I needed a quiet place to work."

"Why?" Donnie asked. "What were you working on?"

"Well, you know sometimes I have trouble focusing. Like my mind has a million ideas but can't pick one. I get lost in thought a lot."

"I've noticed that," Donnie said lightly. This was something they had in common. Although, Donnie could think of a thousand thoughts and comprehend them all, where as Mikey could not. If his mind got too busy, he just sort of zoned out or he just couldn't grasp what you were telling him. That's why sometimes he needed to be told multiple times to do something, like their plans when they were on their evening patrol. "So, I'll ask again… what were you working on?"

Mikey went over to the subway car, reached inside, and pulled out a notebook. He opened it up to a page with a bunch of fairly accurate drawings of the subway car.

"I was thinking of ways we could design the outside of the car. You know, once you're done with it. It would be fun," Mikey explained.

Donnie was amazed at his drawings. They were colorful, and detailed. Some of the art looked like graffiti, and each of their names were on the car.

"I didn't realize you were such a good artist, Mikey. These are really cool," Donnie said, flipping through the book.

"You think so? I never really wanted to show you guys, but thanks."

"I guess we all have our talents right?" Donnie asked idly.

"Mmhm," Mikey nodded in agreement. "You make really cool machines all the time, dude. It's so awesome, like the t-phone! I don't understand how it all works, but I think it's really cool."

"You know, you're right," Donnie started laughing. "Oh man, this one of Raph asleep next to Spike. He would kill you if he found it."

"I know! That's why this was a secret. "

"What's a secret?" came Raph's voice from the doorway.

Mikey and Donnie looked up suddenly. "Nothing!" they shouted in unison. Raph, followed by Leo , eyed them warily.

"Mikey's an artist," Donnie smirked.

"What?" Leo asked, surprised. Donnie held out the sketchbook to Leo before Mikey could grab it back.

"And Donnie cut his hand!" Mikey burst out.

"Because of you!"

"Guys," Leo cut in, handing the book back to Mikey. "We can talk about this later."

"Donnie, I came to get you because you're T-phone rang. April's on the line," Raph handed him the phone.

"April called me?" Donnie got all flustered making his brothers chuckle. Donnie glared at them, and snatched the phone away from Raph with his good hand.

"Hi April!" Donnie said enthusiastically. "What's up?"

"Hey, Donnie," April's voice came through the phone. "I was wondering if you would like to help me with a project tonight. I got this science—"

"Science? Yeah, of course!" Donnie burst out suddenly cutting her off.

April laughed. "You didn't let me finish the question. It's an astronomy assignment. I've got to research some constellations. So I thought you'd like to come and use my telescope and help out."

"That sounds like a lot of fun! What time do you want to start?"

"Meet me on my fire escape at nine. Okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be there," Donnie smiled to himself.

"Great, see you then. Bye," April said, and ended the call.

"Guys!" Donnie turned to his brothers. "April wants to hang out tonight!"

"To do homework?" Mikey frowned at the thought. "Doesn't sound like much fun."

"Well, it's more stargazing than anything."

"Stars!" Mikey shouted. "I wanna go look at the stars! Please, please!"

"You've seen stars before Mikey," Leo added.

"Yeah, but every time we're out there's ninjas or aliens," Mikey looked at Donnie, giving him the puppy dog eyes. "Dude, please!"

Donnie sighed and shook his head. "Yeah okay."

"Yay!" Mikey jumped up from the stool by the workbench and pulled Donnie into a hug. Then he collected his things and ran out of the room.

"So much for that idea," Donnie pouted and took Mikey's abandoned seat.

"It will still be fun," Leo attempted to cheer him up.

Donnie played with the phone in his hand. "I know, wait…" He checked the call history. "Raph, April's phone call is outgoing not incoming. You called her!"

"What? No I…" Raph tried to think of something to say, but couldn't.

"Don't try to cover your tracks. I can see it right here," Donnie looked at him pointedly.

"Well you seemed to be having a bad day, and I felt kind of bad about this morning. So yeah, I called April to see if she had any ideas to make you feel better. Do you want to cancel?"

"Of course not!" Donnie looked at Raph. Thinking about it, the gesture was nice. His day had started out a little rough, and he didn't feel to great in the morning, but this certainly started to make things better. Despite his temper, Raph always had his back. "I'm going to go still, and since Mikey wants to come why don't we all just go?"

"Sounds like a plan," Leo smiled at Donnie. "Do you need help with anything in here first?"

"No, I didn't get the chance to start on anything."

"Oh, sorry about that."

Donnie shrugged. "It's not really a big deal," Donnie got up and headed to the door with Leo and Raph. "I'm going to look over some of my astronomy books before we go."

"That's like five hours from now!" Raph told him.

"I know!" Donnie called over his shoulder as raced off.

When nine o'clock rolled around the four brothers took to the rooftops. As much as Donnie wanted the time to himself to be with April, he couldn't stop his brothers from joining in. She was as much their friend as his.

They reached April's apartment building in a matter of minutes, landing lightly on the fire escape. She was waiting for them by the window.

"Hey guys," she waved. "Wanna help me take this stuff up to the roof?"

"Sure thing, April," Donnie reached out to grab a bag, but she paused.

"What happened to your hand?"

"It was an accident!" Mikey cut in, defending himself.

"No one blames you, shell brain," Donnie joked.

Leo stepped in between the two of them. "Anyway, April what can we help you with?"

"The telescope and some snacks," she pointed to two bags sitting next to her window. "I think you're really going to like them."

"Food is always awesome!" Mikey said, vaulting up to the roof.

Leo grabbed a bag and tossed it at Raph unexpectedly. "Hey!" Raph shouted.

"Just climb, Raph," Leo said. Raph grumbled but started jumping up to the roof anyway. Leo took the other bag and followed him. Donnie stayed behind to help April up to the roof afterwards.

"You're getting better at this," Donnie said to April once they reached the roof.

She smiled. "Thanks! I'll get everything set up over here, if you want to try hooking up the telescope."

"Yes!" Donnie took it eagerly from the bag and started to assemble the telescope. He'd come across a few in scrap yards before but never one that was in perfect condition. It really was a cool instrument of science. He had some difficulty hooking up the tripod because of his hand, but worked past it quickly enough.

After the telescope was standing firm, Donnie looked through the lens, angling it away from the brighter city lights. He found some constellations to focus on, the Big Dipper being one of the first and easiest to spot.

"Hey April, it's all set!" Donnie told her, looking up from the telescope. He looked over to see a blanket placed out on the ground. April was pulling some kind of food out of the backpack she brought up, along with a large thermos and Styrofoam cups. "What's all that?"

She held up a zip-lock bag containing popcorn. "I thought it would be fun to have something to eat," she handed the bag of popcorn to Raph.

Raph took the bag from April. "I've never had this before, but I've seen it on TV. Is it good?" he asked, eyeing the kernels warily.

"Yeah. The taste is kind of hard to explain, but I'm pretty sure you'll like it," she reached into the bag and then pulled out some s'mores.

"Oh! I know what those are!" Mikey burst out happily.

"S'mores. I just made them so they should still be warm," April watched as they each took one of the sweet treats from the bag. It was always interesting to see people's reactions to new foods.

"Wow, these are really good," Donnie told her. "Thanks for making these."

"Good? These are amazing, dude!"

"Thanks for making all this stuff, April," Leo said, finishing his s'more.

"It thought it would be sort of like camping…without the wilderness," April reached behind her and grabbed the thermos. "Everyone grab a cup, I've got hot chocolate too?"

"Hot chocolate?" Raph questioned.

April nodded. "You know, like the drink," she noted the confused looks on their faces. "Geez guys, you've had to seen it before. Whatever, it's a warm drink and it tastes like chocolate, obviously. Give me your cups. You're going to love it."

She filled up each of the Styrofoam cups. They each took a tentative sip, and immediately smiles spread across their faces.

Donnie had never really experienced anything like it. He's had tea of course, but the texture was not the same at all. Hot chocolate was thicker, sweeter, and its taste lingered on his tongue. He's always known about the substance before but never really thought of drinking it until now.

He could see that his brother's were having similar thoughts as well. "This is great!"

"I could drink this for the rest of my life," Mikey said, downing his cup and going for a second one.

"Yeah, it's pretty good," added Raph. "And so is the popcorn."

"Well, don't hog it all to yourself. Pass it here," Leo attempted to reach for the bag, but Raph pulled it away laughing.

As they bickered, and Mikey marveled over his hot chocolate, Donnie finally sat down on the blanket next to April.

"How are you doing?" she asked him quietly.

"Fine. The day started off being unpleasant, but it's turned out to be pretty good in the end," Donnie smiled at her.

She took a sip from her own cup. "Everyone needs some cheering up once in a while."

"I started out wishing that I could contribute more to society. Or you know, at least go to school like a normal teenager. And I still have those thoughts, but I wouldn't change this for the world." Donnie told her quietly. "No one else gets to have this experience, or brothers like mine," he chuckled softly to himself.

"You do a lot of good, Donnie. Even if people don't know it's you," April patted the back of his hand. "You've saved a lot of people in this city with that big brain of yours, you know."

"Thanks," he grinned, and looked up at the sky. Stars were harder to see in the city, but were still visible. He never really took the time to just sit and look.

The day certainly started off a bit shaky note. Donnie definitely dealt with his own ups and downs. His thoughts about how life could be different for him if only he was normal still came up, but that wasn't really the important part anymore.

Donnie realized he was normal, even if it wasn't in the conventional sense of the word. All of his brothers were. Donatello was still a teenager with a love for science, technology, and extremely skilled in martial arts. He looked once more to his hands, the proof of his hard work so far in his short life, and what was to come in the future.

Now looking at the stars and the bright lights of the city, he realized his life had already changed so much in the past few months. Who's to say it wouldn't change more?


End file.
